The Best Jumper: Activity

Christmas quickly followed by Eden's third birthday meant that we saw the girls' bookshelves swell somewhat with a slew of new titles, one of which is 'The Best Jumper' by Lynne Garner and Sarah Gill. The book tells the story of a little mouse who receives a knitted jumper from his grandmother for his birthday, which he carries with him everywhere. 

I wanted to do an activity relating to the book since it has become a fave of Eden's, and as knitting an actual jumper would not require much of my three year old's involvement, I thought we could make a poster instead!

Eden lay down on a big bit of butcher's paper and I traced her outline, then filled it in the details (forgive the shonky drawing!) including the outline of a jumper!

I had already cut up some tissue paper to make the pattern on the jumper, and Eden simply set to work glueing the little squares on. It was a great opportunity to talk about patterns, and to teach her how to make a pattern by alternating the colours! 

Eden's very own 'best jumper', done and dusted! I thought she could paste some other bits of paper/scraps of fabric on to the poster to complete the picture, but she was adamant that she wanted everything else left alone!

I didn't think of it at the time, but really I should have sat with Eden and torn the tissue paper up together. Believe it or not, tearing paper is an important fine motor skill for children to acquire, and although I think E's got this skill down pat, it never hurts to practice! 

For younger toddlers, you could trace their body outline onto paper and let them fingerpaint the picture, or - if you're feeling brave enough to face the mess! - let them dip their feet into some paint and walk on their outline! As for babies, well, if your bubs is anything like mine, you'd be lucky if they stayed still long enough to try tracing their outline!

Thanks for reading! ~ L.